Las Vegas

Okay... let me start out by announcing on here that ... we have taken on a foster daughter! I can't give too much detail, but she will be referred to as "Belle". She's a sweet heart, currently still in the NICU, and we hope to bring her home soon.

We just got back from a 4 day trip to Las Vegas! We spent Christmas with my side of the family. It was a lot of fun. We hung out, had a birthday party for my nephew, had a mom/daughter lunch, went to a movie, I got to see a high school friend! So... nothing major but a whole lot of fun!! Ayden did really well too, overall. His eating was worse than normal, but other than that he traveled great, he slept great, had fun playing with his cousins, and was good. Here are some pictures from our trip. Just as a reminder, to see me go see our picasa account (under the pictures tab). 

yes, we are mean... he was okay with it all but the skirt. the skirt kept getting in his way of walking

So there ya have it :) Our Christmas in a nutshell. It was a great one. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year too!!

Standup and shout

WAHOOO!!! Jared actually wrote this one :)



Yesterday I was playing with my awesome baby, and he did a new trick I wanted to share. He did it once and I was watching. Then he promptly fell down and did it again. I grabbed a camera and knocked my baby to the ground and started recording.

Yes Ayden can now stand on his own. Now I will never be able to catch him. Just so you know this was the first time he did it while holding something.

Santa and Ayden's surgery

On Sat., we went with Blaine, Heather, and their cute kiddos to see Santa! I was a little nervous how Ayden would do, but he did great. I admit, I think it's because we had Jared go hide :o) That and Ayden had just woken up from his nap when we went.

 

 

 

Today was the great and dreadful day! Ayden had tubes placed in his ears. He did amazing. I was expecting the worse, so I'm so glad to have the best! He already seems to walk semi- more steady and talk a little more clearly. Could be my imagination though :o)

Right before going to surgery

Right when he got back

leaving the hospital

home with some food in his tummy!

As you can see he was a champ!!! I'm so glad to have it done, start the recovery, and start having a healthier, happier boy!

walker

Yes, we officially have a walker! Ayden doesn't walk full time yet, he does do quite a bit of crawling still, but it's fun seeing him walking more and more. He gets so excited and proud of himself every time! I love it! So fun watching him learn and grow. Although, then I'm quickly reminded he's not my baby anymore! :( Anyway~ these were taken like the day of and the after he started. He's a lot more steady now. Enjoy

Foster Care Christmas Party

Yes, this is a bit late, but I've been busy, you know, graduating nursing school. Anyway~ on Sat., we went to a Christmas party hosted by our foster care group. It was awesome!!! Panda Express catered, Santa came, there was cookie decorating (which we didn't do- maybe next year when Ayden's old enough to care and know lol), and you could go search through a bunch of clothes, shoes, etc. that had been donated for foster families. I'm telling you... the love and support that are given to foster families is amazing! I feel so blessed to be able to help these kids and to have so many generous people help in anyway they can. Anyway~ here's a pic of Ayden with Santa. Yeah, Ayden wasn't a fan. We're going to try again soon.

Nursing school graduate!!

YES!!! I'm proud and happy to announce that after three LONG years of nursing school we made it through!!!

It has been a very difficult journey. One that I can't say I'd do all over again... at least not right now lol But I am glad that I stuck to it, despite all the obstacles that came in the road. I know I couldn't have done it without Jared, my mom, and a whole bunch of other family and friends. I didn't get when couples would say "we're going to school" ... until I started nursing school. Jared and Ayden suffered just as much as I did to get me through. I am so grateful for them, and for all of you! Your love and support has definitely been felt and much much appreciated!!

Now onto state boards!! After that, who knows. Jared and I now have a lot of talking, praying, and fasting to do. I never thought this day would come!!!!

Thanks so much again and love to all!!!!

Live Nativity

This last Sat. we had the chance to go to a live nativity. It was so fun! Growing up, the one I went to was a play. When we were talking when to leave and all that good stuff, Jared told me that it would be walking around, seeing stuff, a bit of talking. Which I thought was weird! Anyway~ ends up Jared was right and I loved it!! More importantly, Ayden loved it too. We had so much fun. To see all the pics, go to our picasa account. Love to all! :)

I had a donkey name Samuel growing up... yeup, still love donkeys too :)

secret, secret

I figured it's been two weeks, I should update :o) I'll put some pictures and a video throughout too. As always, to see more pictures, head over to our picasa account :o)


Jared's same ol', same ol'... He's loving his new job, still kind of adjusting. It really has been a blessing having him there though. Domo really treats him well. He still doesn't have a calling. Which is totally fine, because he's busying keeping me sane and being wrapped around Ayden's little finger :o)

Ayden is as cute and fun as ever. We're just anxiously awaiting until his surgery. As far as eating... we tried to set up an appointment with an endo. Long story short, both Ayden's dr. and the endo. think it's a calorie thing. SO! We just wait until Ayden's appointment with the GI and go from there. My mom did point out... when I was sick, it took about 6 months for me to gain weight. I'm wondering if we're dealing with the same thing, in that regards, with Ayden. Who knows. See what the doctors say soon. For now, Ayden is healthy, fun, and eating fabulous. If only we could get those darn teeth to cut, life would be AMAZING! in the land on Ayden.

And now on to me... this is where the title of this post comes in :o) So ... I announced on fb last week, but I thought I should announce here too... I went back to school this last semester. I had one class left to get my nursing degree and in 12 LONG days I will have it finished :o) On Dec. 10 I will graduate with my AAS. I am so stinkin excited! I am ready for this road to be over lol I have learned a lot in nursing school (both about nursing and about myself) but I am ready for a new chapter in life. I'm ready to be home full-time with Ayden again. I may work a day or two a month to keep my license (which I can hopefully take boards in Jan. or Feb.) but that'll be it. So yeah, that's REALLY what I've been up to since Sept. :o) Long, good road that's almost done. WAHOOO!!!

Anyway~ that's about it for us. Until next time, hope all is well with you all and love to all!

Our long day

Yesterday ended up being a very long day for us! Which proves, I should never assume a day is going to be low key. Anyway~ it started out by taking Ayden to a check-up at his reg. dr. His dr. wants to see him like every 6 weeks to keep tabs on Ayden's weight gain... or should I say lack there of. Despite Ayden now eating like a champ! In 6 weeks, he only put on 4 oz and did not grow any length wise. :( So he referred us to an endocrinologist (a dr. that specializes in hormones... the kind of dr. i had to see growing up because of my turner syndrome).

 Ayden still has fluid in his ears too. Not enough to call infection or for him to do about, but it's been going on long enough (about 8 months) that he wanted us to see a ENT (ears, nose, throat specialist) too! Yes, I was discouraged.

So when I got home I called the GI dr. (aka feeding specialist) to report his lack of weight gain, called an ENT, and called an endo. We ended up seeing the ENT yesterday. Without any hesitant she told us she wanted to put tubes in Ayden's ear

sorry, maybe kind of graphic, but i like pics to visual things

In all actuality I'm kind of relieved. The poor boy has had more antibiotics than a 13 month old should. Also, I wonder if that's kind of the reason why he's not walking quite yet. He's having trouble with equilibrium. Anyway~ so we scheduled the surgery and it'll be good! It's a low key, outpatient surgery that Ayden should recover from in about a day.

Anyway~ that's the latest and greatest going on in the Payne household. I will keep ya posted once we see the endo, GI, and things progress. Thanks for all the love, support, and prayers! Love to all!!

Ayden takes steps

Ayden has taken steps before, but I haven't been able to get him to do it on camera. My amazing friend was able to catch it for me though!! Yes, it is a girls jacket he's wearing, but he's so incredibly cute still! lol

Halloween!

This year Halloween was kind of low key. With Ayden still being to young to go trick-or-treating... We went to see his bio. family, we went to see my granddad, meet up with my best friend for a bit, then went home, had dinner, and had TONS of trick-or-treaters So it was fun, just nothing to exciting. lol Here are so cute pictures from the night. As always you can see more on our picasa account :) Love to all!!

Pictures!

Here are some more recent pictures! I'm only putting five on here. If you want to see more, check them out on facebook or on our picasa (which you can get to by going to the pictures tabs). Love to all!

Serious?

Oh my! Where has the time gone?? Here's a quick update on all of us

Jared is loving his new job! It has taken some getting use to, but he's working on actual projects now and is enjoying it. The company feeds their employees like crazy! Domo is always bringing in lunch and dinner... they always have bagels, donuts, etc. there for breakfast too. So far it's been a great company to work for. Other than working, Jared stays busy keeping me from going more insane :o) and playing with Ayden and Buddy. Still no new calling for Jared, but right now I'm okay with that.

I haven't been up to anything new. Mommy and wife sum me up! I still do activity days and primary pianist for church. I swear, I'm there forever! lol Good thing I love it, huh?? We have our primary program next Sunday... I'm excited, yet ready to have it over. It's fun, but kind of stressful. Yes, I'm the pianist, but it puts on a lot of me, I feel like. Anyway~ life is good.

Ayden is thinking he's Mr. Independent. He is now eating liking a champ! All the sudden one day, he decided that he was going to eat finger/table food and love it. He definitely has his favorites and has an opinion on what he eats... but he will eat now. We're kind of still working on the drinking thing. The boy LOVES chocolate milk. He's still small, but I'm definitely not as stressed about it, since now he likes eating. He loves to get into everything. He's still not sure about the walking thing. He can do it, it's just helping him get the confidence. We're excited to take him around for halloween. Technically this is his second halloween, but it feels like it's his first since he was too little, just brought him home from the NICU last year. We won't go trick-or-treating... but we have a costume for him and we'll take him to see his bio family, some family, and friends.

Think that about does it for us! I will be adding more pictures soon, so be on the look out. Until then, love to all!!

Happy birthday, Ayden!

Let me start off by saying, Ayden is one loved little man! lol On Sunday, we went over to his bio. families house and celebrated his first birthday with them. Oh, quick side note... these are not all the pictures.. to see all of them go to our picasa or facebook :o)

On his actual birthday, we had a bunch of friends and family over and had cake, ice cream, and presents

Like  I said, this is one loved kid!

At one years old Ayden is 15 pound, 5.5 ounces... he is 27 1/4 inches tall...

Ayden crawls around and is into EVERYTHING! He loves to test boundaries! He is a major daddy's boy. He loves playing with his toys! He is getting to be a bit more cuddlier... which makes this mom extremely happy! He loves to be thrown around and bounce on the couch/bed. He's a very happy, fun baby! We couldn't be more blessed to have him in our lives!! 

phone and ipad pics

So I need to do better at unloading my phone and ipad pics. Oh well lol... I will try to be better. In the mean time, enjoy just a small, impromptu photo shoot of Ayden I did.

If you are just dying to see my phone and ipad pictures (we're talking like 400) go look at our Picasa page or facebook :o) I warn you now, some of them are blurry, and some I may have already posted. Anyway~ Love to all!